This invention relates in general to devices for handling anesthetics and in particular to a new and useful overflow trap for a liquid anesthetic reservoir.
The invention relates particularly to an overflow trap on a container for liquid anesthetics, in which at least one inlet for filling and overflow extend with their openings to its side wall.
Liquid anesthetics frequently are fed through an anesthetic vaporizer into the breathing gas of the patient to whom the narcosis is to be administered. A storage container with anesthetic attached to the vaporizer permits a longer use of the vaporizer during a narcosis. The filling of the anesthetic reservoir is taken care of before its use or after a relatively extended operating time of the anesthetic vaporizer. The anesthetic reservoir is equipped with an overflow to prevent excessive filling of the anesthetic reservoir. This type of overflow trap is described in the German operating instructions 5327.09, Feb. '83: "Safety Filling Device for the Vapor 19.1" by the company Dragerwerk AG, Lubeck, Federal Republic of Germany. The anesthetic reservoir of the anesthetic vaporizer is equipped laterally with a filling device to which the filling hose of the anesthetic bottle can be attached via a joining socket.
The filling hose has a coupling unit that can be coupled with the joining socket. The filling channel for the anesthetic and the ventilating channel for the ventilation of the anesthetic bottle during the feeding of the anesthetic into the anesthetic reservoir are located in the coupling unit and the filling hose. When the filling hose is coupled, the filling channel and the ventilating channel extend in the filling equipment and open laterally as an inlet and as a ventilation opening into the anesthetic reservoir. When the anesthetic is transferred from the anesthetic bottle into the anesthetic reservoir, the liquid leaves the inlet, and the air present in the anesthetic reservoir is returned to the anesthetic bottle via the ventilating opening. As a predetermined maximal filling level is reached, the ventilating opening is closed and the filling from the anesthetic bottle is stopped. But in the event that a further filling of the anesthetic reservoir beyond the maximal filling level takes place, due to a failure, e.g. a defective seal in the filling hose, an additional overflow is located on the reservoir, through which the excess anesthetic can drain off.
When a filled anesthetic reservoir is tilted in its position to such an extent that the liquid enters the inlet and the overflow due to a shock, a residual amount of anesthetic liquid cannot be removed from sections of the channel line into the feeding equipment. It flows out either immediately or after the opening of a closure and irritates the persons present in the neighborhood.